With five minutes left in the wildest class of the day, Banks goes back behind the piano. "Let's sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic," she says. Khalilah packs her backpack for the next class. Erik leads the song: "Glory, Glory Hallelujah, the teacher hit me with a ruler..."

Social Studies, second period, is different. Mr. Goode, usually grinning, begins class by holding his left wrist above his head and looking at his watch. "Fifteen seconds," he says. The students have 15 seconds to quiet themselves and clear their desks for a test; otherwise, they lose "freebies," excuses from detention.

By the time Goode finishes counting backwards aloud, they are quiet.

Soon most are working on their tests. Michelle sucks her thumb while she thinks about what to write. A few students seem to be ignoring the tests on their desks.

"Some kids I will have very little effect on," Goode admits. "Some kids are too far gone."

But Goode spends much of his time with those who have the furthest to go. About half of Khalilah's classmates are "resource kids," who are two grades behind academically. The regular kids like Khalilah are supposed to help them catch up.

"It's tough to teach kids that don't want to learn," Goode says. "Somewhere along the line there needs to be someone pushing them."

The ones who will "make it," according to Goode, are the ones with support at home. The key to a student's success, he explains, is "Parents, parents, parents, parents."

"We're not parents--the school system should stop trying to be parents," he says.

But Goode admits that his teaching does not end at the school's doors. He has spoken with parents of every student in the class, he says, and visited many of their homes.

And when they needed to research their Social Studies Fair projects, it was Goode who took many of them to a public library.

Huge collages from the fair, about six feet by three feet each, lean along the back wall of the classroom. Topics include Black Men in Congress, Black Men of World War II, Black Indians, Rosa Parks' Impact on Black Americans, The Battle of Wounded Knee and the Statue of Liberty.

Later in the day, Khalilah shows me her report and poster on J. Edgar Hoover. "It was like college," she says, telling me how she borrowed four thick books from the library for research. "I learned about someone who made it," she says. "I think every class should have a fair."

But in order to have the Social Studies Fair, Goode took two months out of the curriculum.

The class will not get very far in American history this year, admits Goode. On April 30, they were just finishing Thomas Jefferson's election.